Original Article(s)

Assessment of psychosocial and neuropsychological variables in patients with neurocognitive disorders and chronic stress in caregivers

Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Received: 24 February 2025
Accepted: 8 May 2025
Published: 24 October 2025
2
Views
3
Downloads

Authors

Background: nowadays, there are plenty of programs and resources to prevent caregiver bur-den of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. In spite of that, many caregivers suffer high levels of burden and stress, which leads to an earlier institutionalization of patients. This study aimed to explore how behavioral modules specific to Alzheimer's disease impact caregiver burden. Materials and Methods: a longitudinal (T0-T1, follow up) dyadic design was adopted and a sample of 76 patient-caregiver dyads was recruited. Correlational analyses were used to model associations between variables. Burden was measured with a Caregiver Burden Inventory. Measures of patients’ cognition, insight, depression, behavioral disturbances and functional ability were considered with specific scales (Cornell; Clinical Dementia Rating scale, CDR; Clinical Insight Rating Scale, CIRS). Results: we found that there are behavioral modules specific to Alzheimer's disease that nega-tively influence the psycho-physical state of caregiver health. These include patient's mood (r=0.4; p=0.001), behavioral changes (r=0.4; p<0.001), cyclical functions (r=0.3; p=0.007) and social isolation (r=0.3; p=0.02). Conclusions: despite study limits, interventions to reduce burden should be adapted to the spe-cific needs of the Alzheimer patient and caregiver.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Citations

1. Henderson AS, Jorm AF. Definition, and epidemiology of dementia: a review. Dementia 2000;2000:1-68. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/0470842350.ch1
2. Di Fiandra T, Canevelli M, Di Pucchio A, et al. The Italian Dementia National Plan. Commentary. Annali Istituto Superiore Sanità 2015;51:261-4.
3. Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS). Malattia di Alzheimer. Available from: https://www.epicentro.iss.it/alzheimer/
4. Corrêa MS, de Lima DB, Giacobbo BL, et al. Mental health in familial caregivers of Alzheimer’s disease patients: are the effects of chronic stress on cognition inevitable? Stress 2019;22:83-92.
5. Liu Z, Heffernan C, Tan J. Caregiver burden: a concept analysis. International Journal of Nursing Sciences 2020;7:438-45. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnss.2020.07.012
6. Pinquart M, Sörensen S. Correlates of physical health of informal caregivers: a meta-analysis. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences And Social Sciences 2007;62:126-37. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/62.2.P126
7. Vitaliano PP, Zhang J, Scanlan JM. Is caregiving hazardous to one's physical health? A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin 2003;129:946. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.129.6.946
8. Rymer S, Salloway S, Norton L, et al. Impaired awareness, behavior disturbance, and caregiver burden in Alzheimer disease. Alzheimer Disease & Associated Disorders 2002;16:248-53. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/00002093-200210000-00006
9. Pearlin LI, MuUan JT, Semple SJ, et al. Caregiving and the stress process: an overview of concepts and their measures. Gerontologist 1990;30:583-91. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/30.5.583
10. Monteiro AMF, Santos RL, Kimura N, et al. Coping strategies among caregivers of people with Alzheimer disease: a systematic review. Trends in Psychiatry and Psycho-therapy 2018;40:258-68. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/2237-6089-2017-0065
11. Folstein MF, Folstein SE, McHugh PR. “Mini-mental state”: a practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. Journal of Psychiatric Research 1975;12:189-98. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-3956(75)90026-6
12. Arevalo-Rodriguez I, Smailagic N, Figuls MRI, et al. Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) for the detection of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias in people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Cochrane Library 2015;3:CD010783. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD010783.pub2
13. Morris JC. Clinical Dementia Rating: a reliable and valid diagnostic and staging meas-ure for dementia of the Alzheimer type. International Psychogeriatrics 1997;9:173-6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1041610297004870
14. Vallotti B, Zanetti O, Bianchetti A, et al. Reproducibility of two scales to rate the insight in demented patients. Giornale di Gerontologia 1997;45:341-5.
15. Ott BR, Lafleche G, Whelihan WM, et al. Impaired awareness of deficits in Alzheimer disease. Alzheimer Disease & Associated Disorders 1996;10:68-76. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/00002093-199601020-00003
16. Alexopoulos GS, Abrams RC, Young RC, et al. Cornell scale for depression in demen-tia. Biological Psychiatry. 1988;23:271-84. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-3223(88)90038-8
17. Novak M., Guest C. Application of a multidimensional caregiver burden inventory. The Gerontologist 1989;29:798-803. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/29.6.798
18. Rodda J, Walker Z, Carter J. Depression in older adults. BMJ 2011;343:d5219. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d5219
19. Mausbach BT, Patterson TL, Rabinowitz YG, et al. Depression and distress predict time to cardiovascular disease in dementia caregivers. Health Psychology 2007;26:539. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-6133.26.5.539
20. McEwen BS. Protection and damage from acute and chronic stress: allostasis and allo-static overload and relevance to the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 2004;1032:1-7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1314.001
21. Corrêa MS, de Lima DB, Giacobbo BL, et al. Mental health in familial caregivers of Alzheimer’s disease patients: are the effects of chronic stress on cognition inevitable? Stress 2019;22:83-92. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10253890.2018.1510485
22. Leggett AN, Zarit SH, Kim K, et al. Depressive mood, anger, and daily cortisol of care-givers on high-and low-stress days. Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 2015;70:820-9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbu070
23. Kowianski P, Lietzau G, Czuba E, et al. BDNF: a key factor with multipotent impact on brain signaling and synaptic plasticity. Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology 2017;38,579-93. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10571-017-0510-4
24. Cattaneo A, Cattane N, Begni V, et al. The human BDNF gene: peripheral gene expres-sion and protein levels as biomarkers for psychiatric disorders. Translational Psychiatry 2016;6:e958. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/tp.2016.214
25. Whittaker AC, Gallagher S. Caregiving alters immunity and stress hormones: a review of recent research. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences 2019;28:93-7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2019.02.002
26. Van den Kieboom R, Snaphaan L, Mark R, et al. The trajectory of caregiver burden and risk factors in dementia progression: a systematic review. Journal of Alzheimer's Dis-ease 2020;77:1107-15. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3233/JAD-200647
27. Parker Oliver D, Patil S, Benson JJ, et al. The effect of internet group support for care-givers on social support, self-efficacy, and caregiver burden: a meta-analysis. Telemedi-cine and e-Health 2017;23:621-9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2016.0183
28. Maier SF, Seligman ME. Learned helplessness: theory and evidence. Journal of Exper-imental Psychology: General. 1976;105:3. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037//0096-3445.105.1.3
29. Cheng ST. Dementia caregiver burden: a research update and critical analysis. Current Psychiatry Reports. 2017;19:1-8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-017-0818-2
30. Farina E, Baglio F, Pomati S, et al. The mirror neurons network in aging, mild cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer disease: a functional MRI study. Frontiers in Aging Neuro-science. 2017;9:371. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2017.00371
31. Farina E, Borgnis F, Pozzo T. Mirror neurons and their relationship with neurodegen-erative disorders. Journal of Neuroscience Research 2020;98:1070-94. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/jnr.24579
32. Rizzolatti G, Craighero L. The mirror-neuron system. Annu Rev Neurosci 2004;27:169-92. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.neuro.27.070203.144230
33. Levy J, Feldman R. Synchronous interactions foster empathy. Journal of Experimental Neuroscience 2019;13:1179069519865799. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1179069519865799
34. Gonyea JG, O’Connor M, Carruth A, et al. Subjective appraisal of Alzheimer's disease caregiving: the role of self-efficacy and depressive symptoms in the experience of bur-den. American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease & Other Dementias 2005;20:273-80. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/153331750502000505
35. Ordine degli Psicologi del Piemonte. Formazione e compiti dello psicologo nelle varie aree della psicologia. Litograf; Milan, Italy; 2008.
36. Moser MV, Putignano G, Ferretti MT, et al. Sex and gender considerations in Alz-heimer’s disease: the Women’s Brain Project contribution. Frontiers in Aging Neuro-science 2023;15:1105620. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2023.1105620
37. Budson AE. Why are women more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease? 2022. Available from: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/why-are-women-more-likely-to-develop-alzheimers-disease-202201202672
38. Kenny DA, Kashy DA, Cook WL. Dyadic Data Analysis. Guilford Press; New York, USA; 2006.
39. Kokorelias KM, Gignac MA, Naglie G, et al. A grounded theory study to identify care-giving phases and support needs across the Alzheimer’s disease trajectory. Disability and Rehabilitation 2022;44:1050-9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2020.1788655
40. Rio R. A community-based music therapy support group for people with Alzheimer's disease and their caregivers: a sustainable partnership model. Frontiers in Medicine 2018;5:293. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2018.00293
41. Bruner J. La ricerca del significato. Bollati Boringhieri; Torino, Italy; 1992.
42. Pennebaker JW. Writing about emotional experiences as a therapeutic pro-cess. Psychological Science 1997;8:162-6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.1997.tb00403.x
43. Dysvik E, Furnes B. Dealing with grief related to loss by death and chronic pain: sug-gestions for practice. Part 2. Patient Preference and Adherence 2010;163-70. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2147/PPA.S10582
44. Cigoli V. Lo spirito della relazione e la provocazione della malattia. In: Cigoli V, Ma-riotti M (curators), L’approccio biopsicosociale alla salute e alla malattia. Franco Angeli; Milan, Italy; 2002.

How to Cite



Assessment of psychosocial and neuropsychological variables in patients with neurocognitive disorders and chronic stress in caregivers. (2025). Working Paper of Public Health, 13. https://doi.org/10.4081/wpph.2025.10316

Most read articles by the same author(s)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 > >>